The Girl's Past
The Eighteenth chapter of the Elfen Lied manga series, and the first chapter of Volume Three. Kouta returns with Mayu to the Maple House from the hospital. Mayu nervously attempts to excuse herself while thanking for lunch, but her stomach rumbles from hunger once again, and she is pulled in by him. She is briefly startled upon seeing Nyu. In order to process the horrific memory of the graveyard battle, she comes to believe that what she saw when Lucy fought Nana was all in her imagination. She has several moments of panic while eating another meal, realizing she is eating and not saving food for Wanta and herself for later. Kouta assures her they will feed the dog as well, but is ignorant of the fact that his gentle pat on her head makes the young girl nervous. Yuka and Kouta pressure her for her story, and offer to call her home, which she defiantly resists and remembers the cruel words spoken by her mother. She departs with Wanta, intending to resume the harsh, but familiar life they have become accustomed to, while clinging to him as the only good constant in her life. Inside, the cousins worry for her, but are uncertain how to proceed. Resuming the existence, Mayu knew begins to prove impossible as the bakery stand that has provided her bread crumbs is closing shop due to poor business. Unseen, a figure begins to follow her from a distance. Alone in the woodpile shelter on the beach, she flashes back upon the events that caused her to run away. Her mother remarried to a man who quickly began to molest her, not only by force, but also her obedient nature, and eventually humiliated her by having her prepare and ready herself for his sexual assaults. A more tragic shock is revealed when she finally told her mother of the abuse, only to have her react not in disbelief or denial, but petty jealousy of the "attention" she received from her stepfather, and declares further that she did not care if she vanished entirely. She realized, in that moment, that she meant nothing to her mother, and perhaps never had. Soon after, a half-dressed Mayu angrily and tearfully fled his next attempt to molest her, and ran away with no intention of ever returning. She walked for days, eventually finding a place to sleep on the Kamakura beach, as well as a stray puppy she comes to call Wanta, whom she is holding as her focus returns to the present. Her plans to celebrate her birthday the next day with Wanta are cut short by a woman who grabs him and claims that he is really her dog. She also threateningly warns Mayu, whom she accuses of stealing the dog, to stay away from him. 'Trivia' *It appears that the woman who claims Wanta is her dog (named James) was the one following Mayu from the bakery stand. *The chapter contains a shot of a well-fed Wanta sleeping off his meal. This shot may have inspired a similar scene in the anime's extra episode/OVA. Anime episode(s) based on this chapter : Episode 5